Sales Pipeline Gives Sight to Blind Executives
|
| Tweet |
|
Free PDF Download Salespeople Must Stop Snorkeling and Start Scuba Diving - By Dave Kurlan |
In a struggling economy, executives of sales driven companies are able to see weaknesses and shortcomings on their sales forces that they were previously either blind to or chose to ignore when the orders were coming in.
Now that these executives have sight, the question to be answered is can they invest the money to improve their revenue making machine or, is it too late because there isn't any money left and what they see is what they get.
If you've been given sight and what you see is...
* only some of your salespeople are still closing business
* there aren't enough new opportunities in the pipeline
* predicted closes are being delayed
* opportunities that have closed are closing for less than was predicted
* salespeople are blaming the economy
* salespeople are becoming discouraged
* your revenue is flat or declining
* profits are at risk
...then you have a strong sense of reality.
If what you see is...
* things still look good
* customers are still buying
...then you may be blinded by your backwards looking spreadsheets, long sales cycles and have no idea whether that clogged up pipeline will produce as advertised.
Conduct a pipeline analysis - today - to find out what is really hidden inside that pipeline.
First, stage the pipeline:
* Suspects - scheduled a first meeting
* Prospects - need, compelling reasons to buy, differentiated your company from the competition and have a strong relationship.
* Qualified Opportunities - completely qualified in every way - they've agreed to spend the money, you've identified and met with the decision maker, know the process for the decision, the criteria for the decision and the time line for the decision, they're committed.
* Closable Opportunities - They're buying but you're waiting for check, PO, signature
Next, determine how many opportunities are needed in each stage of the pipeline based on the following:
* conversion metrics
* average sale
* monthly goal
At this point you should have something that looks a little like the table below for each one of your salespeople and for each team/division/group/enterprise.
Stage # Required $ Required
Suspect 12 $600,000
Prospect 9 $450,000
Qualified 6 $300,000
Closable 4 $200,000
In the example above, 31 opportunities, worth $1.55 Million, are required to satisfy a monthly goal of $100,000 with a $33,333 average sale and where 33% of prospects close.
Next, get your salespeople together and, using the criteria for each stage of the pipeline, objectively assign each opportunity to a stage.
Total the number of opportunities and value of those opportunities for each stage and compare with the pipeline requirements.
Here's what you might learn:
* if you were blind now you have sight
* you don't have enough closable and qualified opportunities
* most of your pipeline is somewhere between suspect and prospect
* none of your salespeople have enough in the pipeline
* there isn't nearly enough in the suspect stage of the pipeline
If you have sight and don't like what you see, there isn't a better time to evaluate your sales force and identify what you have to change. If you have sight and like what you see, tell our readers what you are doing that has positioned your company so effectively!
Related Articles
|
Free PDF Download Salespeople Must Stop Snorkeling and Start Scuba Diving - By Dave Kurlan |
|
About the Author: Dave Kurlan RSS for Dave's articles - Visit Dave's website Dave Kurlan is a best-selling author, top-rated speaker and thought leader on sales development. He is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling (Dan Seidman), Stepping Stones (Deepak Chopra and Brian Tracey) and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2 (David Riklan). Click here to visit Dave's website. Visual Pipeline Predict Sales Turnover Salesperson Selection |
Related Forum Posts
Share this article. Fund someone's dream.
Share this post and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva.
Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.
Featured
Expert
ExpertTrending Articles
|
|
Like this page? PLEASE +1 it! |
Newsletter
Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!
Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!
Popular Articles
Case Study Failed Implementation of CRM
Environment and productivity at the office
How to follow-up effectively with your contacts
Case Study Failed Implementation of CRM
Environment and productivity at the office
How to follow-up effectively with your contacts
Suggestions
Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.
Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.






